It's shocking and exploitative, but there are plenty of lengthy unpaid "work experience" schemes or internships. In some cases the interns aren't even given travel or lunch expenses.

But if they help people to get into work, then why are unpaid internships such a big problem?

1. They cost the interns a LOT of money

Watch the money add up over 6 months:

This doesn't even take into account travel costs, and is based on the internship being in London. This means that internships can only really be taken on by those who already have money, which prevents social mobility in the long-term.

2. Around 6% of graduates will end up as unpaid interns

There are at least 21,000 people working as unpaid interns in the UK at any one time.

Just over 300,000 people started a degree in 2012-13 and will likely graduate in 2014/15.

3. These young people are ALREADY in debt

Since the tuition fee changes under the coalition, student debt has skyrocketed. This shows how much debt we've placed on young people who go to university:

Forcing them to shell out for unpaid internships to gain experience in their field will increase their debt burden, which is unfair.

4. Internships devalue and replace real jobs

Research carried out by InternAware last year found that 82% of businesses use unpaid interns to do real work that's valuable to the company. This means they're classified as workers and are entitled to National Minimum Wage.

Not only is this damaging for the intern themselves, but it devalues the work that other people in the company do. If the company can get away with not paying interns, then why should they pay anyone at all?

5. Lastly, interns who work for free are less likely to get a job offer at the end